Giants Could Be Without Key Weapon in Week 1

With the Giants‘ season opener with the Denver Broncos just four days away, they could be without one key member of their offense in this matchup.

Tight end Evan Engram, who strained his calf in the preseason finale with the Patriots on August 29, sat out of practice on Wednesday, which does not bode well for his status in Week 1.

Engram was the only player who was a full non-participant in the Giants’ first official regular season practice. Engram was having a strong camp and preseason, before going down with his respective injury.

If Engram is indeed out this week, the Giants will need Kyle Rudolph and Kaden Smith to step up in his absence. However, this duo is also dealing with ailments of their own, as Rudolph is recovering from offseason foot surgery, and Smith has a knee issue.

Rudolph did not appear in preseason action, while Smith caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Daniel Jones in the final exhibition contest.

Full Injury Report

Although the Giants have been keeping some of their injuries confidential this summer, they finally released the full report, which provided clarification of what each player is dealing with.

Among those individuals who are banged up, but were limited participants in today’s practice include: RB Saquon Barkley (knee), WR Kenny Golladay (hamstring), LB Justin Hilliard (foot), CB Adoree’ Jackson (ankle), DB Josh Jackson (calf), TE Kyle Rudolph (foot), DT Danny Shelton (neck), TE Kaden Smith (knee), OT Andrew Thomas (ankle) and WR Kadarius Toney (hamstring).

Saquon Barkley, who is recovering from a torn ACL, participated in the Giants’ portion of practice that was open to the media this afternoon, as did wideouts Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney.

Starting left tackle Andrew Thomas had a rough go of it in the pass blocking department this summer. And while he denied that he was injured, after being seen with a heavily wrapped ankle in the preseason finale, this exact injury showed up on the Giants’ report today.

Toney Looks Ready to go

While Kadarius Toney’s lack of participation has been the mystery of the offseason, it was finally revealed that he has been dealing with a hamstring injury.

Toney spent the beginning of training camp on the reserve/COVID-19 list and had to go through conditioning tests in order to make his way back. However, he went down with a hamstring issue, which caused him to miss the entirety of his first preseason in the NFL.

Luckily, it sounds like Toney will be ready to go for Week 1.

“Yeah I’m good. Just working every day to get better,” Toney told reporters when asked about his status. “I’m here to do my job. Whatever they say.”

Toney is back at practice and appears to be moving well, with the season opener just four days away.

Head coach Joe Judge also said Toney could play a “significant” role this week.

“It is realistic for him to have a significant role based on how he practices this week,” Judge told reporters.

But it sounds like Judge and the Giants are eyeing production over volume from their rookie, who had an unlucky summer.

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